The Kings Beech

[David Humphries]

In 1925 King George V visited Hampstead Heath & Kenwood to dedicate the open space so that the children of London could "glimpse wood and meadowland"

 

He planted a beech tree to commemorate the occasion.

 

 

 

 

First shot courtesy of hampsteadheath.net

[David Humphries]

For the last few years the root plate has been showing evidence of an association with Meripilus giganteus - the giant polypore.

 

 

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[David Humphries]

Concerned as to the extent of the white rot in the roots, we had a session with an airspade in 2010 to give us an idea of how vital the lateral anchor & feeding roots were.

 

 

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[David Humphries]

Although there was indeed evidence of desiccation in the roots, I didn't feel that the tree was structurally compromised enough at that point to warrant a reduction of canopy to aid stability.

 

We decided that keeping passing foot & vehicular traffic away from the trunk and immediate rhizosphere would suffice with a monitoring of canopy vitality.

 

 

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[David Humphries]

We had it down on our work schedule for a 3m canopy reduction this winter to bring it within the surrounding canopies to lessen its sail against the wind.

 

 

the recent St Jude storm wasn't privy to this plan and blew the tree down whilst still in full leaf.

 

 

Missed the boat on this one

 

 

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[Johny Walker]

not much of the root system left , did well to stay up for as long as it did

[swinny]

This is excellent findings. A shame for such a nice tree.

 

This is a reminder to me though of how careful you have to be when managing a tree with fungal infection....

 

Even with a substancial reduction even if you had have done it before it fell.....

 

1. Would it have been safe to do so?

 

2. How much time would you have thought it would buy the tree? Not much by the looks of the roots or lack of

 

I suppose the course of action was due to where the tree was, for it would have been managed differently in a town location

[sloth]

A real shame. Any plans to encourage phoenix regen style rooting? Give it a chance to continue maybe...

[David Humphries]

This is excellent findings. A shame for such a nice tree.

 

This is a reminder to me though of how careful you have to be when managing a tree with fungal infection....

 

Even with a substancial reduction even if you had have done it before it fell.....

 

1. Would it have been safe to do so?

 

2. How much time would you have thought it would buy the tree? Not much by the looks of the roots or lack of

 

I suppose the course of action was due to where the tree was, for it would have been managed differently in a town location

 

 

1. I'm fairly confident that we would have carried out the reduction via climbing, although had the assessment deemed it necessary then we would have brought a Mewp in.

 

2. We have other beeches that have Meripilus, that after reduction, are still standing after a number of years including significantly having suffered the same storm as above.

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/4246-last-beech-standing.html

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/52839-just-tickle.html

 

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[David Humphries]

A real shame. Any plans to encourage phoenix regen style rooting? Give it a chance to continue maybe...

 

No, it's now detached all around from its roots

 

A replacement will be sourced & planted.

 

 

We had contact from the office of Prince Charles in the aftermath of the storm,

concerned as to the level of damage to the trees on the Heath.

 

Perhaps we could invite him to replace his Great Grandfathers tree

 

 

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